Overview

Twickenham is often referred to as the home of English rugby. The
stadium is owned and operated by the RFU, so Twickenham is the host
of numerous rugby union fixtures year round. Most prominently it is
the home of the English rugby union team, who have played nearly
all their home games at the stadium (as opposed to some of the
other rugby nations that may have a home stadium, but use numerous
venues, England uses just Twickenham). Twickenham hosts England's
Six Nations matches, as
well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually
annually around November.

History

Sold out
Tests against New
Zealand and South Africa at
Crystal Palace saw the RFU realise the benefit of owning their own
ground. Committee member William Williams leads the way to
purchasing a 10 and 1/4 acre market garden in Twickenham in 1907
for £5,572 12s and 6d. The first
stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was
bought, it was actually used to grow cabbages, and so Twickenham
Stadium is affectionately known as the 'Cabbage Patch'. After
further expenditure on roads, the first game, between Harlequins v. Richmond, was played on 2 October 1909 and the
first international, England v. Wales, on 15 January 1910.
At the time of the English-Welsh match, the stadium had a maximum
capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was
used for cattle, horse and sheep grazing. King George V unveiled a war
memorial in 1921.

Starting An Attack, unusual painting of the England v Wales rugby
match at Twickenham in 1931

In 1926, the first Middlesex Sevens
took place at the ground. In 1927 the first Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for
the first time. In 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined
side of England and Wales beat Ireland and Scotland by 26 points to
17.

Coming into the last match of the 1988 season, against the Irish,
England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five
Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one
solitary England try in the previous two years and at half time
against Ireland they were 0-3 down. During the second half a
remarkable transformation took place and England started playing an
expansive game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A
0-3 deficit was turned into a 35-3 win, with England scoring six
tries. This day also saw the origins of the adoption of the negro
spiritual Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot as a terrace song. In the 35-3 win against
Ireland, three of England's tries were scored by Chris Oti, a black player who had made a
reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing.
A group of boys from the Benedictine school Douai following a tradition at their school
games sang Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot whenever a try was scored. When Oti scored his
second try, amused spectators standing close to the boys joined in,
and when Oti scored his hat-trick the song
was heard around the ground. Since then Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
became a song to sing at England home games, in the same way that
Fields of Athenry is sung in
Dublin and Cwm Rhondda is sung
at Cardiff.

The United Kingdom, Ireland and France shared the hosting of the
1991 Rugby World Cup.
Twickenham was used during pool A England matches.
Twickenham was also host of the 1991 Rugby World Cup Final in
which Australia
beat England 6-12. For this game, England changed their style of
play, opting for the sort of running-game that had brought them
victory against Ireland in the March 1988 game referred to above.
During this match, with the English facing a 12 to 3 deficit,
David Campese reached one-handed for a
ball thrown to England winger, Rory
Underwood. He dropped it and the ball rolled forward gifting
England a penalty that proved the last score of the game. Some have
claimed that Campese's action should have been interpreted as a
deliberate professional foul with possible disciplinary action
against the Australian player. However, on the same ground in
November 1988, Campese had intercepted a similar pass and run the
length of the field to score a try.

Some of the Welsh-hosted 1999 Rugby
World Cup games were taken to Twickenham. These included three
of England's pool B
matches, the second round playoff where England defeated Fiji 45 points to 24, and
both semi-finals, none of which England were involved in, having
made their exit in the quarter-finals at the hands of South Africa. Under
the reign of Clive Woodward, the
stadium became known as 'Fortress Twickenham', as England enjoyed a
run of 19 unbeaten home matches from October 1999, ending with
defeat against Ireland in 2004. The IRB Rugby
Aid Match was played on 5 March 2005 under the auspices of the
International Rugby Board
(IRB) to raise money for the United
NationsWorld Food
Programme to support its work aiding victims of the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami. Representative sides of the Northern and
Southern hemispheres played at Twickenham. The final score was
Northern Hemisphere 19 – Southern Hemisphere 54.

Redevelopment

South stand being redeveloped.

Since the ground was bought by the RFU in 1907, it has gone through
a number of redevelopments. In 1921 a stand was built above the
northern terrace, with workshops placed underneath. In 1927, there
was an extension to the East Stand, bringing the capacity to
12,000. The south terrace was also extended to allow 20,000
spectators. In 1932 a new West Stand was completed, providing
offices for the RFU, who made the ground their home. In 1937, the Middlesex County Council approved a scheme submitted by
Twickenham Borough Council to widen Rugby Road due to it being
inadequate for traffic.

In 1965, the South Terrace was closed due to structural failings.
It was found to be cheaper to build a new stand as opposed to
repairing the existing one, however, planning permission was
refused due to objection from local residents. Permission was
granted in 1978. A period of extensive rebuilding took place during
the early 1980s which continued through to the mid 1990s. In 1981
the South Terrace was rebuilt as the South Stand. After being taken
down in 1988, an extended North Stand was opened in 1990. After the
1992 five nations, the stadium saw the development of the new East
Stand and following that the West Stand. In 1995, the stadium was
completed to accommodate 75,000 people in an all-seater
environment.

An aerial view of the stadium in
October 2008

Planning permission was sought in 2002 and received in December
2004 for a new South Stand to raise capacity to 82,000, together
with a hotel and conference centre, with redevelopment commencing
in June 2005. The RFU's revised application to build the new south
stand at £80 million was unanimously approved by Richmond Council's
planning committee on 2 December. As well as increasing the
stadium's capacity to 82,000, the redevelopment will introduce a
four-star Marriott hotel with
156 rooms and six VIP suites with views over the field, a
performing arts complex, a health and leisure club, open a new
rugby shop and also increase the current function space. On Sunday
10 July 2005 the south stand was demolished to make way for the new
development. The festivities that were planned for the implosion of
this end of the stadium were cancelled in the wake of the July 7th terror attacks in the
centre of London. The new seating was complete by 5 November 2006
for the England vs New Zealand game of the 2006 Autumn internationals
series. The roof has now been completed, and at February 2009 the
other facilities are nearing completion.

Other uses

Though Twickenham usually only hosts rugby union fixtures, it has
in the past been the venue for a number of other events. In 2000
the ground hosted its first game of rugby
league, in which Australia defeated
England in the
opening game of the 2000
Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final
has also been played at Twickenham twice and was won by St Helens
on both occasions. Due to the construction delays of Wembley, a number of scheduled events at Wembley were moved
to Twickenham. The Challenge Cup and the Rolling Stones'
A Bigger Bang Tour concerts were
taken to Twickenham. The Stones also played two shows at Twickenham
in August and September 2003, the first of which was used as their
stadium concert disc for the 2003 DVD Four
Flicks. During 2007 Genesis
played at Twickenham during their "Turn it on again" World Tour,
promoting their best of albums "Platinum Collection" and "The Video
Show" (DVD). The Police played at the
stadium in September 2007 and Rod
Stewart in June. The usual capacity for concerts is 55,000, as
opposed to the 82,000 for rugby.

Museum of Rugby

The World Rugby Museum is a museum located in
Twickenham Stadium. The museum covers the whole of the global game,
not just English rugby. It tells the history of the sport,
including William Webb Ellis and
Richard Lindon, using interactive
display techniques. The museum has a rolling programme of special
exhibitions which cover topical issues and offer an opportunity to
display some of the obscurer items in the collection. Some unique
displays include an English rugby jersey
from the first ever rugby international in 1871 between England and
Scotland, and (until 2005) the William Webb Ellis Cup which was
obtained by England at the 2003
Rugby World Cup. Twickenham Stadium Tours are also available
through the Museum and run four times per day (Tuesday to Saturday)
and twice on Sundays. It is usually open every day of the week
except for Mondays. Except match days when for ticket holders only
a special price entry to the museum is available.